Ship Creek and the Tasman Sea coast

Today we had to undertake  a long drive from Queenstown to Franz Josef. We set out soon after 8am taking the Crown Range Road to Wanaka. The road climbs quickly by an exciting  series of hair pin bends.We stopped briefly at Wanaka at the southern tip of Lake Wanaka, before continuing  northwards along an almost deserted road, first with Lake Hawea on our right hand side, and then Lake Wanaka on our left side. By 10 .30am we had reached the small settlement of Makarora where we we had been invited to visit L, the sister of one of our good  Winchester friends, who lives there with her Kiwi husband M. We had never met them before  but they made us most welcome, and an hour passed very quickly. M is a retired pilot who used  to fly people  to Antarctica. He still has a small private plane. L used to lead tourist groups in Antarctica. You couldn't hope  to meet two more capable, level headed people, but modest, people! 
We had to tear ourselves away to continue our journey beside the Haast River  via the Haast Pass, in Mount Aspiring National Park, through old  glacial scenery. Eventually, the road took us to Ship Creek nature reserve on the coast just beyond  Haast village. Here we walked to the beach, and spotted a Fiordland Crested Penguin far out in the Tasman Sea. We continued on our way to Franz Josef  along a deserted road through pristine temperate rainforest.              
Second extra shows Martin by the Haast River soon after we left Makarora while the first  extra is of the single  track trestle bridge over the Haast River just after the Haast Pass which we had to cross.

Very late posting due to poor internet and difficulty  selecting photos from the many taken !